Jason Mercer, from the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, University College London, will be in Hong Kong on 27 November, 2018 to give a talk during the seminar jointly organized by the School of Biomedical Sciences and HKU-Pasteur:
Seeing is believing: Super-resolving poxvirus protein architecture
Date: 27 November, 2018
Venue: Seminar Room 1, G/F
Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building
21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Summary: The spatial distribution of binding and fusion proteins on most viruses and the functional relevance of this organization remains largely unexplored. Employing super-resolution microscopy Dr. Mercer’s team define the nanoscale membrane architecture of the prototypic poxvirus, vaccinia. Dr. Mercer’s team show that binding and entry fusion complex (EFC) proteins are organized into distinct functional domains with fusion proteins polarized to the tips of virions. Repression of individual EFC components, or disruption of EFC localization, impacts virus fusion pore formation resulting in loss of fusion activity. Thus, they reveal that the nanoscale organization of viral fusion machineries are essential for efficient infection.
